'It was like living in a foreign country'

There are few more notorious comments than the one Ian Rush made on his struggle to adapt to Italian life during his one season at Juventus in 1987-88. 'I couldn't settle in Italy,' the £3.2million man said, 'it was like living in a foreign country.'

The remark that has tormented the 43-year-old former Liverpool striker ever since is, he says, nonsense. 'I was set up,' the Chester manager told me. 'It was someone's idea of fun - probably one of my Liverpool team-mates joked that I'd said it and things went from there. I had just re-joined the club [in August 1988] and wanted to get back to playing football, not worry what was being written about me.'

So is it also untrue, then, that he was homesick and didn't enjoy his time in Turin? 'Absolutely,' he says. 'I was homesick at times, but it is one of the best things I've done in my life. I flew into Turin airport on what was supposed to be a secret flight but, when I arrived, there were 5,000 fans waiting for me. I started off by living in a hotel but had my own place before long.

'On the downside, I never realised Turin was such an industrial area. There wasn't much to do and I wasn't allowed an interpreter. The only other English-speaking player at the club was the Dane, Michael Laudrup. He helped me out as much as he could but he had his own life to lead and couldn't hold my hand the whole time.'

It was when Rush returned home at Christmas and trained for a week with his old team-mates at Liverpool that he began to consider a permanent return. 'I did miss the banter,' he says, 'but I never asked to leave. It was only because Kenny Dalglish wanted me that I came home.

'Looking back, Juventus were the right club at the wrong time. We had just signed seven players and were happy to get 0-0 draws away from home. That negative approach didn't play to my strengths. I would have been better joining Mark Hughes and Gary Lineker playing under Terry Venables at Barcelona.

'But I don't regret going. My time at Juventus improved me in every way, both as a person and player. I didn't do as badly as everybody tries to make out, either. I scored 13 league and cup goals in my only season and was top scorer at the club. Most importantly, though, it means I can look back on my career and not wonder about what might have been.'